A few hours with the IS F...
07-07-2008, 07:46 PM
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A few hours with the IS F...
I participated in Lexus's Performance Driving Academy June 27 at Summit Point, and got to spend some time driving the new IS F around in a semi-aggressive manner. The day was broken into four ~40 minute stations: a classroom session, autocross, follow-the-leader lapping on the Jefferson Circuit, and a team relay. Lexus professional drivers on-hand for the event included Jeff Andretti, Caio Campos, et al. The star of the day, though, was the IS F. The staff and pro drivers had been briefed well on its stats and specs, and many numbers were thrown out over the day by many folks wearing black Lexus attire.
Lexus certainly did a good job with the HQ tent. I've never been to an Audi Experience event, but I presume they go to similar extremes. The tent was air-conditioned, and it featured a breakfast and lunch buffet, comfy furniture, videos of the car, and a driving simulator (which may have simply been Gran Turismo with a fancy interface; I didn't get a real close look).
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0905-vi.jpg">
More eye candy was just outside the tent.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1234/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0910-vi.jpg">
Tucked into a corner of the tent, however, was the reason for the event.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1212/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_903-vi.jpg">
Nothing but plastic is visible under the hood, unfortunately.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1213/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0892-vi.jpg">
The huge F badges are worse than the RS 4's V8 badge IMHO.
<img src="http://images37.fotki.com/v1199/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0906-vi.jpg">
Front tires are 225-40-19, rears are 255-35-19.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1211/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0893-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1213/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0894-vi.jpg">
I didn't mind the silver weave as much as I thought I was going to.
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0895-vi.jpg">
It's easy to visually cancel out the weave so that it looks aluminum.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1235/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0896-vi.jpg">
The rear seat seemed usable; the driver seat in this car was not in a bad position for me. The passenger seat must have been back pretty far.
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0898-vi.jpg">
Of course, the exhaust tips. I won't give Lexus too much grief over this, since everyone from Porsche to Lamborghini to Audi have used these fascia-type tips on some of their cars. I do presume, however, that the other manufacturers lined their actual exhausts up a bit better, and the stacked design seems awkward to me.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1232/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0900-vi.jpg">
Yes, yes.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1214/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0901-vi.jpg">
Initial visual impressions weren't as bad as I expected, especially with the hood up. Small details are niggling, like the stacked quad pipes and the blanked-off vent behind the front wheel. With the hood down, the sharp curvy slope down to the grille reminds me of a beluga whale, however. A non-car-guy friend who hung out there with me noted that to him it looked like a Fast and Furious car.
The classroom session was very basic, which is to be expected from an event like this where a fair amount of focus is aimed at simply selling the car. I'm sure this was the first time on a track for many of the drivers present. It was still useful hearing lessons about friction circles and weight transfer, however. They even had a very useful visual aid: another driving sim was set up with a camera on the driver's feet, so we could see the effect of braking and throttle on the attitude of the simulated car.
From the class, my group was off to the autocross course, which was manned in part by professional drifter Campos and the driver who reportedly benchmarked the Rev It Up autocross program. Unfortunately I can't remember his name, and a cursory google search didn't bring up anything familiar.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1230/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0907-vi.jpg">
This was my first time seeing the car in action. It looks good in motion, and from the driver's seat the sound is pretty reminiscent of an RS 4 without the Audi's fuel pump whine (and another thousand rpm or so). The car handled pretty well, although I thought the throttle response was a bit passive. Brakes were good, and they caused me to overslow the car on more than one occasion. Ironically, the fastest student time of the day was put down by someone who had never been on an autocross course before. The pro drivers were also pimping the lesser IS's: they admitted that they get faster autocross times with them versus IS F due to better weight balance and more manageable power.
The group then went off for some follow-the-leader laps around Jefferson with three or four students in IS Fs trailing a pro in an IS 250 or IS 350. I'm really uncomfortable with follow-the-leader stuff, especially when I'm driving someone else's $56,000 car and know nothing about the other drivers. Jefferson is a very short circuit, and the two sets of four laps ended seemingly as soon as they began. The IS F handled well through the little S section, and the gimpy throttle was still bugging me. It may have been that I wasn't driving with the transmission well, but there seemed to be a decently large delay from when I pressed the gas to when the RPMs started to climb. There was also a second stage in the gas pedal that was accessed after pressing it through a palpable detent. I guess this may have been the transmission kickdown switch, but it seemed like you had to mash the gas past that to get the car to get up and go. It was definitely fast once it started to go, but I was expecting more accelerative violence than the RS 4, since IS F has 60 lb-ft more torque and a couple hundred pounds less mass. Maybe more seat time would let me learn how to drive it, or maybe I was just expecting too much. The brakes again felt very good, however.
Here are the cars staging for the follow-the-leader sessions. They're gonna make ~2500 IS Fs this year, so about 1% of the production run was at this event.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1229/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0914-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1234/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0903-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1215/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0918-vi.jpg">
The most disturbing thing about the track session was the lack of headroom. I'm only 5'10", but my head was uncomfortably touching the roof with a helmet on, even with the seat all the way down. We had to use helmets provided by Lexus, so I don't know what type they were, but if I were any taller I simply could not drive the car for any length of time on a track. A quick check of Lexus's website reveals the RS 4 has 18 mm more front headroom (and even the Mk. I TT has 15 mm more), but that's enough to keep my helmet from digging into the headliner.
Our last event for the day was the team relay rally, where our group was broken up into two teams to compete against each other in driving another IS F around Summit Point's skidpad. Each driver would get one lap, and the clock would keep running for driver changes.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1225/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0915-vi.jpg">
The surface is amazingly slick, and not drifting the car around the circle took some restraint. The traction control was definitely helpful in this exercise. My team won by ~16 seconds.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1236/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0922-vi.jpg">
The event concluded with the pro drivers taking students around Jefferson in IS Fs, an awards ceremony, more talk about the cars, and handing out of gift bags. Here's a crappy digital camera movie of a couple of the pro drivers taking students around:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUO-8zCTX0">YouTube Video</A>
Objectively, the event probably wasn't worth the entry fee if one was only looking for track time with the IS F (eight track laps, four autocross laps, and two laps for the skidpad rally was all we got to drive), but it was fun to drive the car for that short period. I am impressed with the car, and think that my initial disappointment with its acceleration could hopefully be solved with more seat time. Unfortunately, I don't see more seat time happening. It's quite an effort from Lexus, though, and they are definitely concerned with being a sporting car manufacturer now. One of the questions on the end-of-event satisfaction survey even asked if we could associate Lexus with performance after attending the event. I believe I can.
Now to find an event with the new M3...
Lexus certainly did a good job with the HQ tent. I've never been to an Audi Experience event, but I presume they go to similar extremes. The tent was air-conditioned, and it featured a breakfast and lunch buffet, comfy furniture, videos of the car, and a driving simulator (which may have simply been Gran Turismo with a fancy interface; I didn't get a real close look).
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0905-vi.jpg">
More eye candy was just outside the tent.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1234/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0910-vi.jpg">
Tucked into a corner of the tent, however, was the reason for the event.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1212/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_903-vi.jpg">
Nothing but plastic is visible under the hood, unfortunately.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1213/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0892-vi.jpg">
The huge F badges are worse than the RS 4's V8 badge IMHO.
<img src="http://images37.fotki.com/v1199/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0906-vi.jpg">
Front tires are 225-40-19, rears are 255-35-19.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1211/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0893-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1213/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0894-vi.jpg">
I didn't mind the silver weave as much as I thought I was going to.
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0895-vi.jpg">
It's easy to visually cancel out the weave so that it looks aluminum.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1235/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0896-vi.jpg">
The rear seat seemed usable; the driver seat in this car was not in a bad position for me. The passenger seat must have been back pretty far.
<img src="http://images35.fotki.com/v1173/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0898-vi.jpg">
Of course, the exhaust tips. I won't give Lexus too much grief over this, since everyone from Porsche to Lamborghini to Audi have used these fascia-type tips on some of their cars. I do presume, however, that the other manufacturers lined their actual exhausts up a bit better, and the stacked design seems awkward to me.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1232/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0900-vi.jpg">
Yes, yes.
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1214/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0901-vi.jpg">
Initial visual impressions weren't as bad as I expected, especially with the hood up. Small details are niggling, like the stacked quad pipes and the blanked-off vent behind the front wheel. With the hood down, the sharp curvy slope down to the grille reminds me of a beluga whale, however. A non-car-guy friend who hung out there with me noted that to him it looked like a Fast and Furious car.
The classroom session was very basic, which is to be expected from an event like this where a fair amount of focus is aimed at simply selling the car. I'm sure this was the first time on a track for many of the drivers present. It was still useful hearing lessons about friction circles and weight transfer, however. They even had a very useful visual aid: another driving sim was set up with a camera on the driver's feet, so we could see the effect of braking and throttle on the attitude of the simulated car.
From the class, my group was off to the autocross course, which was manned in part by professional drifter Campos and the driver who reportedly benchmarked the Rev It Up autocross program. Unfortunately I can't remember his name, and a cursory google search didn't bring up anything familiar.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1230/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0907-vi.jpg">
This was my first time seeing the car in action. It looks good in motion, and from the driver's seat the sound is pretty reminiscent of an RS 4 without the Audi's fuel pump whine (and another thousand rpm or so). The car handled pretty well, although I thought the throttle response was a bit passive. Brakes were good, and they caused me to overslow the car on more than one occasion. Ironically, the fastest student time of the day was put down by someone who had never been on an autocross course before. The pro drivers were also pimping the lesser IS's: they admitted that they get faster autocross times with them versus IS F due to better weight balance and more manageable power.
The group then went off for some follow-the-leader laps around Jefferson with three or four students in IS Fs trailing a pro in an IS 250 or IS 350. I'm really uncomfortable with follow-the-leader stuff, especially when I'm driving someone else's $56,000 car and know nothing about the other drivers. Jefferson is a very short circuit, and the two sets of four laps ended seemingly as soon as they began. The IS F handled well through the little S section, and the gimpy throttle was still bugging me. It may have been that I wasn't driving with the transmission well, but there seemed to be a decently large delay from when I pressed the gas to when the RPMs started to climb. There was also a second stage in the gas pedal that was accessed after pressing it through a palpable detent. I guess this may have been the transmission kickdown switch, but it seemed like you had to mash the gas past that to get the car to get up and go. It was definitely fast once it started to go, but I was expecting more accelerative violence than the RS 4, since IS F has 60 lb-ft more torque and a couple hundred pounds less mass. Maybe more seat time would let me learn how to drive it, or maybe I was just expecting too much. The brakes again felt very good, however.
Here are the cars staging for the follow-the-leader sessions. They're gonna make ~2500 IS Fs this year, so about 1% of the production run was at this event.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1229/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0914-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1234/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0903-vi.jpg">
<img src="http://images38.fotki.com/v1215/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0918-vi.jpg">
The most disturbing thing about the track session was the lack of headroom. I'm only 5'10", but my head was uncomfortably touching the roof with a helmet on, even with the seat all the way down. We had to use helmets provided by Lexus, so I don't know what type they were, but if I were any taller I simply could not drive the car for any length of time on a track. A quick check of Lexus's website reveals the RS 4 has 18 mm more front headroom (and even the Mk. I TT has 15 mm more), but that's enough to keep my helmet from digging into the headliner.
Our last event for the day was the team relay rally, where our group was broken up into two teams to compete against each other in driving another IS F around Summit Point's skidpad. Each driver would get one lap, and the clock would keep running for driver changes.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1225/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0915-vi.jpg">
The surface is amazingly slick, and not drifting the car around the circle took some restraint. The traction control was definitely helpful in this exercise. My team won by ~16 seconds.
<img src="http://images39.fotki.com/v1236/photos/2/226513/6408226/IMG_0922-vi.jpg">
The event concluded with the pro drivers taking students around Jefferson in IS Fs, an awards ceremony, more talk about the cars, and handing out of gift bags. Here's a crappy digital camera movie of a couple of the pro drivers taking students around:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhUO-8zCTX0">YouTube Video</A>
Objectively, the event probably wasn't worth the entry fee if one was only looking for track time with the IS F (eight track laps, four autocross laps, and two laps for the skidpad rally was all we got to drive), but it was fun to drive the car for that short period. I am impressed with the car, and think that my initial disappointment with its acceleration could hopefully be solved with more seat time. Unfortunately, I don't see more seat time happening. It's quite an effort from Lexus, though, and they are definitely concerned with being a sporting car manufacturer now. One of the questions on the end-of-event satisfaction survey even asked if we could associate Lexus with performance after attending the event. I believe I can.
Now to find an event with the new M3...
07-08-2008, 06:07 AM
#5
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I still laugh at the lack of headroom in many Japanese cars.
My parents' first-gen LS400 has WAY, WAY less headroom than even a first-gen Boxster. I think that says a LOT right there, considering the LS is probably 50% bigger than the Boxster.
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